From February 2007 through December 2011, two Colby College graduates, one a Yankees fan and one a Red Sox fan provided unsolicited rants, second-guessing, insight, and commentary on the Yankees, Red Sox, and all things baseball.
57 months, 1,645 posts, 12,680 comments - Thanks for the memories.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Vote for Us

Okay, so we were nominated by various members of the Vassallo family as one of the best Boston blogs. This is reasonably unfair because half of this blog (perhaps slightly less in the summer) is centered around New York and their American League team. However, if you do think How Youz Doin Baseball has enhanced your baseball-watching experience over the last five seasons, feel free to give us a vote by following the link:

We might not use any graphic design programs more sophisticated than Microsoft Paint, we might not like songs about 11-year-old girls that have the lines "touching me, touching you," we might actually say a couple of negative words about Jacoby Ellsbury and/or Johnny Damon and say a few good words about Coco Crisp, so we're probably not going to win. Hey, at least we're not showing any naked pictures of Tom Brady's kid. I feel like as far as this vote goes, having us there is like having Walt Weiss on the Hall of Fame ballot. Any votes would be a nice gesture.

Also, as promised, I'm going to re-post some of the best comments. Many of these have come right around this time of the year:

Ross Kaplan on 46 and Pat's dual absences in 2010:I'm guessing that [Pat] is in Cork, which as we all know is on the Jersey Shore of Ireland just fistpumping his days away on the Irish coast. Of course you all could accuse me of having disappeared from this blog and baseball for that matter during this summer, but between my bar preparation followed by a trip to the Grand Canyon, I have been indisposed for most of the summer. Then there is also the fact that Pat writes on the blog about as often as Jacoby has played this season there is just nothing for me to comment on.

The Gunn, on pink hats in 2010:I don't want to go back to the 1990's....If winning means obnoxious fans and overexposure, then so be it. That what winning breeds. It's natural. Go take a look at some of those crappy indie bands that everyone in college likes. They're cute and fun and their fans are proud that only a small group of people follow the band. But here's the real question--Are those bands making any money? Are they selling gold records? No and no. I want the Red Sox to be Van Halen or Bruce Springsteen. I don't want them to be The Band That Nobody's Heard Of But Is Well-Liked By It's Tiny Fan Base. The Sox had those days. It was called 1919-2003. I want the Sox to make a ton of money, spend a ton of money, and most importantly, win.

Pat F's "DV-level analysis" of JD Drew versus Chris Woodward in 2009. He had posted a comment at 3:55 AM on a Thursday night, I ragged on him for that, and then I asked him, assuming he had Friday off, whether he would be better than Woodward as a fill-in. This is his response that has spent two years on my cubicle wall:i would. but i'm not jd. which is why i don't get why he is involved in this discussion (i totally get pedroia's absence being questioned). yes, drew *might* hit a groundball to the right side. he does that a lot. and yes, that may have been more productive than what woodward can do. but he also strikes out a lot. this doesn't get nearly enough play. hE wAlkS a LOt!!!1!! he also strikes out too much, especially this year, where he is on pace to set a career high. not only does this negate some of the positive of him walking a lot, but it is also relevant to this conversation.

let's consider the three things jd drew does a lot, they are:- ground out to the right side.- walk- strikeout

now let's rank them in terms of productiveness, most to least:1. walk2. ground out to the right side3. strikeout

now let's apply that to the situation yesterday. he had an off day. it seems like he likes off days. it also seems like he doesn't like be asking to play when he's given an off day. so presumably he wouldn't be too happy about being asked to pinch hit. when someone isn't in a positive state mentally, they are unlikely to be at maximum productivity at the work place. that likely eliminates walking. further, they are unlikely to be productive at all. that may eliminate grounding out to the right side and moving a runner over. being upset about being asked to work on an off day often leads to minimum productivity, which means striking out. which renders him perhaps even less useful than woodward, which eliminates him from the francona conversation. maybe tito had it right.

this was dv level analysis from me if there ever was any on this blog.

As we move toward the end of the season, I will do my best to look back for some of the best stuff. We would have been out of the blogging world a long time ago if we didn't have our small, but loyal, fan base.

4 comments:

Aight, so Pat inquired what the context was for his comment. The story is, the original post went up on Thursday night, August 13, 2009. He made a comment at roughly 3:55 AM on Friday morning, August 14th, and I assumed he probably had a long and strenuous Thursday night out because he didn't have to go to work on Friday.

The original post touched upon whether JD Drew pinch hitting on a coveted day off would be a better option than Chris Woodward, who was the definition of a replacement-level player. Remember, this was the year Drew had the second-highest OPS of all AL outfielders. Obviously, Pat's analysis indicated that Woodward was preferable over Drew under these circumstances.

I asked him whether on his Friday off, if he were called to work, whether he would bring more production to the table than someone like Chris Woodward. His answer was "I would. But I'm not JD."

And so went the comment that still resides eighteen inches away from my computer screen.

I'm excited about the greatest hits collection if only because it means seeing some of the back and forth between PF and 'From the Bronx.' That should be terrific.

Also, I'm pumped to be included in today's post. I appreciate that.

On Jim Thome--as far as steroids go you and I have differing opinions, but one thing that we do agree on is that it's a shame that records don't mean what they used to/should and that we can't completely trust what any single player did from the late 80's until today. Part of the fun of baseball is throwing all the great numbers around and comparing legends. We can't do that anymore. It's really too bad.

Lastly, you may have already read Josh Beckett's comments on the Sox recent travel schedule. Everything he said is likely true. But comments like those show you just how out of touch with reality professional athletes tend to be. I'll tell you what, Josh--you come do my job, take my pay, and limit your travel to Central Maine. I'll take your job (which by the way requires you to work, at most, TWO days a week) and your salary. And I'll do it with a goddamn mile wide grin on my face. If it means I have to crisscross the equator five times a week, so be it.

As pumped as PF's summer 2010 right fist for this 'Best Of' stuff, right there with Gunn. Good luck with the votes.

On the records stuff, I think part of the reason records have been so meaningful in baseball as compared to other sports here in the USA is that the regular season in baseball has always held the most meaning. Thus, the accomplishments of players over those 154/162 games can be used to measure their greatness.

On the other hand, a league like the NBA has always had a meaningless regular season and guys like Malone, Barkley, etc., will always be (rightfully) remembered for their various post-season 'accomplishments'. The NFL, although meaningful, just cannot play enough games and QBs are, (in my mind) rightfully judged on Superbowls. I wonder if the schedule contining to tip further towards unbalanced with interleague and 45 Sox-Yanks games per year and the addition of various divisions and wild cards has had a hidden impact on the importance of some of these records.

FTB, wherever he went, was pretty much a Hall of Famer in my book, if for nothing else, for the way he got under Pat's skin. I anticipate taking some time over some weekend to cherry pick some good comments and posting them up here. Bottom line is, we've been doing this for five years. Say we live until we're eighty: This has been a big part of 6% of our lives. We deserve a "best of" segment.

Gunn, when zooming out a little bit, we really do disagree on a lot of things. Can't agree more on the Beckett whining. Obviously the Red Sox are victims here. It's unbelievable. The fact that Abraham is framing his popping off as a good thing is laughable.

Bandi, Bud Selig's grubby hands on the game have rendered the record books completely useless, if you haven't noticed. Between the roids, the unbalanced schedule, the AL/NL switch of Milwaukee, the proposed realignment, interleague play, and the expansion of the playoffs that will undoubtedly suck all the meaning out of NEXT August, finding meaning in Selig era stats is impossible. Golden age. Bernie Williams having 500 hits in the postseason isn't because he's better than Babe Ruth. It's because he's played 500 freaking games. Go away.